Shrimp is a mainstay of the seafood diet in many parts of the world. Some of the characteristics of shrimp which make it a preferred seafood is that it has a bland taste (not a strong fishy taste), it is easy to prepare, it is preferrably white in color and has a consistant quality. While shrimp is a highly preferred seafood its availability is becoming limited with the amount of shrimp being caught each year reaching the maximum sustainable yield (i.e., the maximum allowable percentage of shrimp being caught in order not to deplete the stock of shrimp in the future). Thus, while the demand for shrimp keeps increasing, the availability of shrimp does not.
in view of the availability and cost of shrimp it has been desireable to produce shrimp analogs or shrimp-like products containing a percentage of shrimp in the product. However, in the past these analogs or shrimp-like products have been lacking in a number of regards, namely, they in general did not provide the nutritional or protein content of real shrimp, they lacked the overall hardness, chewiness and cohesiveness of real shrimp thereby lacking the eating texture and quality which the consumer has come to expect from real shrimp. These drawbacks have made shrimp analogs or shrimp-like products containing a percentage of shrimp, an unacceptable alternative to real shrimp.
Thus, it is a feature of this invention to produce a shrimp analog having the taste, texture and appearance of real shrimp.
It is a further feature of this invention to produce a shrimp-like product which may contain a percentage of shrimp while having the taste, texture and appearance of real shrimp.
It is still another feature of this invention to produce a shrimp analog having the hardness, chewiness and cohesiveness of real shrimp.
It is yet another feature of this invention to produce a shrimp analog out of fish protein and which contains the nutritional and protein content of real shrimp.